On the 9th of July, 1850, President Taylor, but about one year and four months after his inauguration, was suddenly taken sick, and died. By the Constitution, Vice-President Fillmore thus became President of the United States. He appointed a very able cabinet, of which the illustrious Daniel Webster was Secretary of State. The agitated condition of the country brought questions of very great delicacy before him. He was bound by his oath of office to execute the laws of the United States. One of those laws was understood to be, that if a slave, escaping from

bondage, should reach a free State, the United States was bound to help catch him, and return him to his master. Most Christian men loathed this law. President Fillmore felt bound by his oath rigidly to see it enforced. Slavery was organizing armies to invade Cuba, as it had invaded Texas, and annex it to the United States. President Fillmore gave all the influence of his exalted station against the atrocious enterprise. The illustrious Hungarian, Kossuth, visited our shores, and was cordially received by the President; while he frankly informed him that it

was the policy of our Government to avoid all complications in European affairs.

Mr. Fillmore had very serious difficulties to contend with, since the opposition had a majority in both Houses. He did every thing in his power to conciliate the South; but the proslavery party in the South felt the inadequacy of all measures of transient conciliation. The population of the free States was so rapidly increasing over that of the slave States, that it was inevitable that the power of the Government should soon pass into the hands of the free States. The famous compromise-measures were adopted under Mr. Fillmore's administration, and the Japan Expedition was sent out.

On the 4th of March, 1853, Mr. Fillmore, having served one term, retired from office. He then took a long tour throughout the South, where he met with quite an enthusiastic reception. In a speech at Vicksburg, alluding to the rapid growth of the country, he said,

"Canada is knocking for admission, and Mexico would be glad to come in; and, without saying whether it would be right or wrong, we stand with open arms to receive them: for it is the manifest destiny of this Government to embrace the whole NorthAmerican continent."

In 1855, President Fillmore went to Europe, where he was received with those marked attentions which his position and character merited. Returning to this country in 1856, he was nominated for the presidency by the strangely called "KnowNothing" party. Mr. Buchanan, the Democratic candidate, was the successful competitor for the prize. Since then, Mr. Fillmore has lived in retirement. During the terrible conflict of civil war, he was mostly silent. It was generally supposed that his sympathies were rather with those who were endeavoring to overthrow our institutions. Edward Everett, who had been a candidate for the vice-presidency, left no one in doubt respecting his abhorrence of the Rebellion, and his devotion to his country's flag. President Fillmore kept aloof from the conflict, without any cordial words of cheer to the one party or the other. He was thus forgotten by both. He is still living in the interior of New York, in the sixty-seventh year of his age.

CHAPTER XIV.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

Character of his Father. His Promise in Boyhood. - College Life. - Political Views.Success as a Lawyer. - Entrance upon Public Life.-Service in the Mexican War.Landing in Mexico. March through the Country.- Incidents of the March. - Anecdotes.- Nomination for the Presidency. - Election. - Administration. - Retirement.

FRANKLIN PIERCE, the fourteenth President of the United States, was born in Hillsborough, N.H., Nov. 23, 1804.

His

father was a Revolutionary soldier, who, with his own strong arm, hewed him out a home in the wilderness. He was a man of inflexible integrity; of strong, though uncultivated mind; and an uncompromising Democrat. When, under the administration of

John Adams, an effort was made to draw our country into an alliance with England in her war against the French republic, Major Pierce, as his title then was, was offered a high commission in the army which was proposed to be levied.

"No, gentlemen," was his reply. "Poor as I am, and acceptable as would be the position under other circumstances, I would sooner go to yonder mountains, dig me a cave, and live on roast potatoes, than be instrumental in promoting the objects for which that army is raised."

His energetic and upright character and commanding abilities gave him great influence in the secluded region where he dwelt, and he occupied nearly every post of honor and emolument which his neighbors could confer upon him. He was for several years in the State Legislature; was a member of the governor's council, and a general of the militia. He was an independent farmer; a generous, large-hearted, hospitable man. The mother of Franklin Pierce was all that a son could desire, - an intelligent, prudent, affectionate, Christian woman. Franklin was the sixth of eight children.

Old Gen. Pierce was a politician, ever ready for argument; and there was ample opportunity for the exercise of his powers in those days of intense political excitement, when, all over the New-England States, Federalists and Democrats were arrayed so fiercely against each other. Franklin, as a boy, listened eagerly to the arguments of his father, enforced by strong and ready utterance and earnest gestures. It was in this school that he was led to ally himself with the Democratic party so closely, as to be ready to follow wherever it might lead.

Franklin was a very bright and handsome boy, generous, warmhearted, and brave. He won alike the love of old and young. The boys on the play-ground loved him. His teachers loved him. The neighbors looked upon him with pride and affection. He was by instinct a gentleman; always speaking kind words, doing kind deeds, with a peculiar unstudied tact which taught him what was agreeable. Without developing any precocity of genius, or any unnatural devotion to books, he was a good scholar; in body, in mind, in affections, a finely-developed boy.

When sixteen years of age, in the year 1820, he entered Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, Me. The writer there became personally acquainted with him. He was one of the most popular

young men in college. The purity of his moral character, the unvarying courtesy of his demeanor, his rank as a scholar, and his genial nature, rendered him a universal favorite. There was something very peculiarly winning in his address, and it was evidently not in the slightest degree studied: it was the simple outgushing of his own magnanimous and loving nature.

Upon graduating, in the year 1824, Franklin Pierce commenced the study of law in the office of Judge Woodbury, one of the most distinguished lawyers of the State, and a man of great private worth. The eminent social qualities of the young lawyer, his father's prominence as a public man, and the brilliant political career into which Judge Woodbury was entering, all tended to entice Mr. Pierce into the fascinating yet perilous paths of political life. With all the ardor of his nature, he espoused the cause of Gen. Jackson for the presidency. He commenced the prac tice of law in Hillsborough, and was soon elected to represent the town in the State Legislature. Here he served for four years. The two last years he was chosen speaker of the house by a very large vote.

In 1833, at the age of twenty-nine, he was elected a member of Congress. Without taking an active part in the debates, he was faithful and laborious in duty, and ever rising in the estimation of those with whom he was associated. Strenuously he supported the administration of Gen. Jackson, securing not only the confidence, but the personal friendship, of that extraordinary man. Mr. Pierce sympathized in the fears of the State-rights party, that the National Government would consolidate so much power as to endanger the liberties of the individual States. In Congress, he warmly allied himself with the Democratic party; being apparently in sympathy with them in all its measures.

In 1837, being then but thirty-three years of age, he was elected to the Senate of the United States; taking his seat just as Mr. Van Buren commenced his administration. He was the youngest member in the Senate. The ablest men our country has produced were then among the leaders of the Democracy,- Calhoun, Buchanan, Benton. Senator Pierce was a remarkably fluent, graceful speaker, always courteous and good-tempered; and his speeches were listened to by both parties with interest. In the year 1834, he married Miss Jane Means Appleton, a lady of rare beauty and accomplishments, and one admirably fitted to adorn every station